Watching Butterflies fly — Are they saying something?

Butterflies are great. Aren’t they? Vivid and bright colorful wings, always on the fly from one flower to another, hard to catch; they are those and many more things beautiful and mesmerizing. They are what Barney Stinson would call ‘Awesome’!

I was just walking through my office lawn sipping my not-so-usual morning coffee and noticed two butterflies playing. I don’t know what they were talking to each other — were they talking of love, of daily humdrums, of worries, of life at large, or were they just living it? I tend to believe it was last one for they were carefree, unconscious of their surroundings, they were busy in their own little moment; they were living and loving their ‘we’ time.

Butterflies are fascinating, aren’t they? From childhood we have wondered at their bright colors, their fluttering flights. Remember those times when we tried to catch them but only got those colors on our fingers? I remember running through bushes, unmindful of my surroundings, falling and rising only to fail but not lose heart, and run again. I remember catching them and running to my mum holding it through their wings as if I was holding some trophy. I remember her reprimands, about how I have hurt the little insect. She would then ask me to release my colorful friend… Good old days! Coming to present, the two colorful friends have long gone, the new ones with different colors have arrived. I don’t know what this one’s are talking with each other either!

Like their flights and colors, life cycle of a butterfly is no dull either. “Butterflies have the typical four-stage insect life cycle. Winged adults lay eggs on the food plant on which their larvae, known ascaterpillars, will feed. The caterpillars grow, sometimes very rapidly, and when fully developed pupate in a chrysalis. When metamorphosisis complete, the pupal skin splits, the adult insect climbs out and, after its wings have expanded and dried, it flies off,” reads Wikipedia.

It’s a life full of patience; of waiting till you meet your destiny. Many of us crumble before realizing our dreams, before achieving what we set out to. We forget our purpose; we lose heart when presented with few obstacles but they don’t. One more interesting aspect about butterfly is that most of the species live only for a week or two! But in that short span, they live a life full lived. We live for years, decades but most of us don’t leave any mark of their living. We just spend our time here and leave, just like that. Nothing happens when you are idle, you have to peddle to move, you have to seize what is not yours to make things happen.

I’m neither philosopher nor a billionaire speaker to tell you what to do and what not to but someone who believes in people, in the potential they hold. I like rebels who swim against tides, revolutionaries who talk what is not ordinary, I like people who dream extraordinary, those who try to stand out. Do what you like, fly where you wish like a butterfly does, spread happiness where you trudge, live in the moment. But most importantly, live not just breathe.

Don’t be ordinary. It’s lame to be the same. Be Different. Be you. Be a Butterfly. Fly.